SF 201 

U6 
1922 
Copy 1 



YOUR 

FUTURE 

HERD 




U. S. Department of Agriculture 

IX, O. Bureau of Animal Industry 
Dairy Division 

V 



D. D. E. 10—2-18-22—50,000. 



THE HERD TO-MORROW 



Y 



OUR HERD— will it grow better 
or poorer as the years pass by ? 



Your herd bull will largely determine 
this matter. 

Poor bulls decrease production. 
Good purebred bulls may double or even 
treble the production of the future herd. 
The value of such bulls is recognized, 
but the greatest difficulty has been for the 
farmer with a small herd to obtain one. 

The cooperative bull association is 
solving this problem for others. Why 
not for you ? 

In your own case, for instance, you may 
use a neighbor's bull or may own one 
yourself. Why not take the money that 
you and four or five of your neighbors 
spend for bull service or that you now 
have invested in several ordinary bulls 
and buy one good purebred bull capable 
of increasing the production of your 
herd? 

Would not this be a good investment ? 

Such a group or block of farmers to- 
gether with three to five similar blocks 
form the foundation of a cooperative 

bull association. * 

LtBfTARY OF CONGrttSS 

RECEIVED 

.♦AUG 151922 

QOfSC/MENTS DIVISION 



The association thus organized buys a 
bull for each block and at the end of 
every two years the bulls are moved 
from one block to another until all the 
bulls have been used two years in each 
block. 

The bull association provides the large 
and small dairy herds with the use of a 
high-class purebred bull for a period of 
six to twelve years at an average cost 
below that of a cheap scrub. Figures 
from three typical associations show this. 

In one association four $276 bulls were 
purchased at an average cost of $42 per 
farmer. In another association it cost 
$53 per member for six $276 bulls. In 
a third association, at a cost of $240 per 
farmer, four $ 1 ,200 bulls were purchased. 

In belonging to a bull association, 
farmers pay a certain amount per cow. 
With 60 cows in a block, for instance, 
$10 per cow will raise $600 for a bull; 
and in a typical association of five 
blocks the farmer has for a period of ten 
years the use of five $600 bulls for the 
original investment of $ 1 per cow. 

The members in the entire association 
limit the amount assessed per cow, but 
those in each block select the place for 
keeping the bull and arrange the block 
according to their own convenience. 



PERTINENT FACTS 

REGARDING BULL ASSOCIATIONS 

THE cooperative bull association is 
* designed for a particular purpose, 
just as a machine is designed to do a 
particular kind of work. 

Owning a good dairy bull jointly with 
a number of your neighbors does not 
give you the full benefits of a bull as- 
sociation, because you have efficient bull 
service for about two years only. 

A bull association is made up of three 
or more blocks, all united in an organi- 
zation which provides at a low cost for 
the cooperative ownership, use, and 
exchange of superior bulls, and many 
other advantages not obtained by mem- 
bers of single independent blocks. 

The bull association gives each mem- 
ber bull service for six or more years for 
his share of the initial cost of one good 
bull. 

All the members together make the 
rules (the constitution and by-laws), and 
elect the officers, including a board of 
directors. 

One member from each block is 
elected director. 

The business of the association is 
handled by the directors. They select 
and buy bulls, arrange for a man in each 
block as keeper, provide a safe and 
satisfactory place for keeping the bull in 
each block, and are responsible for 
keeping the bulls in vigorous breeding 
condition. 

All the bulls belong to the association 
as a whole and not to any separate 
block. The directors may sell any bull 



that becomes unsatisfactory and replace 
him with a satisfactory one. 

All bulls must be of the same breed, 
uniform in type and conformation, and 
descended from ancestors with average 
butterfat records of at least 400 pounds 
a year. 

THE BULL ASSOCIATION- 

Gives you an exchange of three or 
more bulls for the first small investment. 

Offers an opportunity to try bulls, and 
retain the best. 

Makes the dairy cattle in a com- 
munity uniform, helps to sell them, and 
may also assist in buying. 

Provides good purebred bulls for the 
farmer with a small herd, even down to 
one cow. 

Is useful to all breeders of dairy stock, 
but most useful to the one with so few 
cows that he alone can not afford to buy 
a good bull. 

Helps the ambitious dairyman, 
strengthens his hopes, and arouses his 
enthusiasm. 

Permanently establishes in a com- 
munity one breed of cattle, and a 
systematic means of continuous dairy 
herd improvement by making the maxi- 
mum use of prepotent sires and by re- 
ducing losses caused by undesirable bulls. 

A bull association DOES NOT neces- 
sarily contribute to the spread of abortion 
or tuberculosis. 

IS THE BULL ASSOCIATION 
PRACTICABLE ? 

Judge for yourself. There were 1 58 
associations in active operation in the 
United States on July 1 , 1 92 1 . and they 



NTY SHOWING ONE 
fLL ASSOCIATION 

50 dairymen grouped into 5 breeding 
of a breed, which are shifted from 



? 



BLOCK No. 5 7 Members 
I 12 Members 6 o cows 

Cows 



W 



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. 



J*0*» 







ie man from each block, elected annually, 
jement of bulls and all business of the 






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f 



SKETCH OF A COl 
COOPERATIVE B 

The association is composed c 
blocks, owning 5 of the better bul 
one block to another every two y 



BLOCIC No.l 8 Members 

6C Cows BLOCIC N' 




A board of directors, composed of 
directs the purchase, shifting, and mai 
association. 



are steadily increasing in number each 
year. Here is what some of the mem- 
bers of associations and others say about 
their value: 

Everybody is more than satisfied with the bull 
association because each member has from 2 to 
12 heifers milking that are a big improve- 
ment over their dams from a standpoint of 
production as well as uniformity. — Ray Holstein 
Breeders' Association, Washington, Mich. 

The members who have been in the associa- 
tion 7 years have expended only $143 each for 
bull service. The records of the daughters 
show considerable improvement over the 
dams. — New Windsor Guernsey Breeders' Com- 
pany, New Windsor, Md. 

Organizing two cooperative bull associations 
was the biggest thing the Farm Bureau of 
Susquehanna County undertook and finished in 
1918. If it had accomplished nothing else the 
Farm Bureau would have been a success. — 
R. E. Wakeley, Susquehanna County, Pa. 

Our three meetings resulted in the Rowan 
County Cooperative Guernsey Bull Associa- 
tion, the good effect of which is so great that 
there is little danger of overestimating its 
value.— S. S. Stabler, Agricultural Agent, 
Rowan County, N. C. 

When you want a bull association, 
plan a block with your neighbors (or be 
a whole block by yourself if you have 
no neighbors); then go to your county 
agent and arrange for two or more other 
communities to form blocks. When they 
have become interested, call a general 
meeting and organize. Get your State 
dairy extension man to be present at this 
meeting to assist. 

Farmers' Bulletin 993, published by 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C, gives constitution 
and by-laws and detailed information 
about organizing cooperative bull as- 
sociations. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 475 000 4 



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